Page 114 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

mind, a meeting among the major figures and their representatives
might be appropriate. Such a meeting might decide on an
independent audit of the certification documents of the
individual polling stations by a non-Panamanian firm.
Alternatively, the decision might be to hold a new election.
Whatever solution the Panamanian decide on, the United States
should be generous in making it possible, and in playing any
neutral role that the participants might ask of it. If there is no
generally accepted solution, then the United States should be
careful not to endorse the election as having been a fully free
exercise. It should continue to support the extension of
Panamanian civil institutions, but it should be reluctant to
strengthen further a military establishment that many,
perhaps most, Panamanian consider to be primarily
responsible for the inequities in the recent election”.

The observers quoted above not only acknowledge implicitly the fact of the
fraud (“fully free election”, “audit of the certification documents”, “new election”,
etc.), but point –correctly– to the Defense Forces as being primarily responsible, in the
opinion of most Panamanians, of “the inequities in the recent election”. What a sharp
contrast between these firm and strongly held views and the accommodating
pronouncements of the official international observers!
On the other hand, the Venezuelan House of Representatives, in a resolution
passed on May 23, 1984, salutes “the general elections in Ecuador and El Salvador,
which culminated in the unimpeachable election of constitutional governments”, and
“regrets the attitude of Panamanian electoral authorities that casts doubt on the
counting of the votes”. Again, a sharp contrast. An “unimpeachable election” when
referring to Ecuador and El Salvador; “doubts on the counting of the votes” in
connection with Panama. Despite the diplomatic language customarily used in these
documents, these words are surprisingly straight forward. There is no question,
therefore, that Venezuelan congressmen were aware of many the fraudulent activities
we have exposed in this work.
The news services and the international magazines took it upon themselves to
reveal to the world at large the realities of the fraudulent electoral process in Panama.
Transcribed below are a few excerpts from international news media; many more could
also have been quoted:

“Today, that reasonable doubt as to the integrity of the election to which we
alluded yesterday has turned into an absolute certainty of fraud for the opposition”.
ABC, Madrid, May 11, 1984, page 31.